diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index eb0a22b..a44a1cc 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -8,4 +8,5 @@ require (
 	github.com/bradleyjkemp/cupaloy v2.3.0+incompatible
 	github.com/hashicorp/golang-lru v0.5.4
 	github.com/stretchr/testify v1.6.1
+	golang.org/x/text v0.3.0
 )
diff --git a/omniparser/parser.go b/omniparser/parser.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59cdd9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/omniparser/parser.go
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+package omniparser
+
+import (
+	"io"
+
+	"github.com/jf-tech/omniparser/omniparser/schemaPlugin"
+	"github.com/jf-tech/omniparser/omniparser/transformCtx"
+)
+
+// Parser is an interface that represents an instance of omniparser.
+// One instance of Parser is associated with one and only one schema.
+// The instance of Parser can be reused for parsing and transforming
+// multiple input files/streams, as long as they are all intended for the
+// same schema.
+// Each parsing/transform, however, needs a separate instance of
+// TransformOp. TransformOp must not be shared and reused across different
+// input files/streams.
+// While the same instance of Parser can be shared across multiple threads,
+// TransformOp is not multi-thread safe. All operations on it must be done
+// within the same go routine.
+type Parser interface {
+	GetTransformOp(name string, input io.Reader, ctx *transformCtx.Ctx) (TransformOp, error)
+	SchemaHeader() schemaPlugin.Header
+	SchemaRawContent() string
+}
diff --git a/omniparser/schemaPlugin/.snapshots/TestSupportedEncodingMappingsDump b/omniparser/schemaPlugin/.snapshots/TestSupportedEncodingMappingsDump
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f79b4d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/omniparser/schemaPlugin/.snapshots/TestSupportedEncodingMappingsDump
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+[
+	"iso-8859-1",
+	"utf-8",
+	"windows-1252"
+]
+
diff --git a/omniparser/schemaPlugin/header.go b/omniparser/schemaPlugin/header.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3e3600
--- /dev/null
+++ b/omniparser/schemaPlugin/header.go
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+package schemaPlugin
+
+import (
+	"io"
+
+	"golang.org/x/text/encoding/charmap"
+
+	"github.com/jf-tech/omniparser/strutil"
+)
+
+// ParserSettings defines the common header (and its JSON format) for all schemas across all schema plugins.
+// It contains vital information about what schema plugin a schema wants to use, and what file format the
+// input stream is of (e.g. fixed-length txt, CSV/TSV, XML, JSON, EDI, etc).
+// Also optionally, it specifies the expected the encoding scheme for the input streams this schema is used
+// for.
+type ParserSettings struct {
+	Version        string  `json:"version,omitempty"`
+	FileFormatType string  `json:"file_format_type,omitempty"`
+	Encoding       *string `json:"encoding,omitempty"`
+}
+
+const (
+	// EncodingUTF8 is the UTF-8 (golang's default) encoding scheme.
+	EncodingUTF8 = "utf-8"
+	// EncodingISO8859_1 is the ISO 8859-1 encoding.
+	EncodingISO8859_1 = "iso-8859-1"
+	// EncodingWindows1252 is the Windows 1252 encoding.
+	EncodingWindows1252 = "windows-1252"
+)
+
+type encodingMappingFunc func(reader io.Reader) io.Reader
+
+// SupportedEncodingMappings provides mapping between input stream reader and a func that does
+// encoding specific translation.
+var SupportedEncodingMappings = map[string]encodingMappingFunc{
+	EncodingUTF8:        func(r io.Reader) io.Reader { return r },
+	EncodingISO8859_1:   func(r io.Reader) io.Reader { return charmap.ISO8859_1.NewDecoder().Reader(r) },
+	EncodingWindows1252: func(r io.Reader) io.Reader { return charmap.Windows1252.NewDecoder().Reader(r) },
+}
+
+// GetEncoding returns the encoding of the schema. If no encoding is specified in the schema, which
+// the most comment default case, it assumes the input stream will be in UTF-8.
+func (p ParserSettings) GetEncoding() string {
+	return strutil.StrPtrOrElse(p.Encoding, EncodingUTF8)
+}
+
+// Header contains the common ParserSettings for all schemas.
+type Header struct {
+	ParserSettings ParserSettings `json:"parser_settings,omitempty"`
+}
diff --git a/omniparser/schemaPlugin/header_test.go b/omniparser/schemaPlugin/header_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..18ed65a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/omniparser/schemaPlugin/header_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+package schemaPlugin
+
+import (
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"sort"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/bradleyjkemp/cupaloy"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+
+	"github.com/jf-tech/omniparser/jsonutil"
+	"github.com/jf-tech/omniparser/testutil"
+)
+
+func TestSupportedEncodingMappingsDump(t *testing.T) {
+	var supported []string
+	for k, _ := range SupportedEncodingMappings {
+		supported = append(supported, k)
+	}
+	sort.Strings(supported)
+	cupaloy.SnapshotT(t, jsonutil.BPM(supported))
+}
+
+func TestSupportedEncodingMappings(t *testing.T) {
+	for encoding, mappingFn := range SupportedEncodingMappings {
+		t.Run(encoding, func(t *testing.T) {
+			actual, err := ioutil.ReadAll(mappingFn(strings.NewReader("test")))
+			assert.NoError(t, err)
+			assert.Equal(t, []byte("test"), actual)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestGetEncoding(t *testing.T) {
+	assert.Equal(
+		t, EncodingUTF8, (ParserSettings{Encoding: testutil.StrPtr(EncodingUTF8)}).GetEncoding())
+	assert.Equal(
+		t, EncodingISO8859_1, (ParserSettings{Encoding: testutil.StrPtr(EncodingISO8859_1)}).GetEncoding())
+	assert.Equal(
+		t, EncodingWindows1252, (ParserSettings{Encoding: testutil.StrPtr(EncodingWindows1252)}).GetEncoding())
+	assert.Equal(
+		t, EncodingUTF8, (ParserSettings{}).GetEncoding())
+	assert.Equal(
+		t, "whatever", (ParserSettings{Encoding: testutil.StrPtr("whatever")}).GetEncoding())
+}
diff --git a/omniparser/transformCtx/ctx.go b/omniparser/transformCtx/ctx.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ede77d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/omniparser/transformCtx/ctx.go
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+package transformCtx
+
+// Ctx contains the context object used throughout the lifespan of a TransformOp action.
+type Ctx struct {
+}
diff --git a/omniparser/transformOp.go b/omniparser/transformOp.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc0ad89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/omniparser/transformOp.go
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+package omniparser
+
+// TransformOp is an interface that represents one input stream parsing/transform operation.
+// Instance of TransformOp must not be shared and reused among different input streams.
+// Instance of TransformOp should not be used across multiple goroutines.
+type TransformOp interface {
+	// Next indicates whether the parsing/transform operation is completed or not.
+	Next() bool
+	// Read returns a JSON byte slice representing one parsing/transform result.
+	Read() ([]byte, error)
+	// Parser returns the Parser from which this TransformOp is created.
+	Parser() Parser
+}
diff --git a/strutil/strutil.go b/strutil/strutil.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..78330ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/strutil/strutil.go
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+package strutil
+
+func StrPtrOrElse(sp *string, orElse string) string {
+	if sp != nil {
+		return *sp
+	}
+	return orElse
+}
diff --git a/strutil/strutil_test.go b/strutil/strutil_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3bd632
--- /dev/null
+++ b/strutil/strutil_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+package strutil
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+
+	"github.com/jf-tech/omniparser/testutil"
+)
+
+func TestStrPtrOrElse(t *testing.T) {
+	assert.Equal(t, "this", StrPtrOrElse(testutil.StrPtr("this"), "that"))
+	assert.Equal(t, "that", StrPtrOrElse(nil, "that"))
+}
diff --git a/testutil/testutil.go b/testutil/testutil.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e44c48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testutil/testutil.go
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+package testutil
+
+// IntPtr returns an int pointer with a given value.
+// Tests cases needed inline int pointer declaration can use this.
+func IntPtr(n int) *int {
+	return &n
+}
+
+// StrPtr returns a string pointer with a given value.
+// Tests cases needed inline string pointer declaration can use this.
+func StrPtr(s string) *string {
+	return &s
+}
diff --git a/testutil/testutil_test.go b/testutil/testutil_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a7eb20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testutil/testutil_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package testutil
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func TestIntPtr(t *testing.T) {
+	np := IntPtr(31415926)
+	assert.NotNil(t, np)
+	assert.Equal(t, 31415926, *np)
+}
+
+func TestStrPtr(t *testing.T) {
+	sp := StrPtr("pi")
+	assert.NotNil(t, sp)
+	assert.Equal(t, "pi", *sp)
+}